Secretary of State Blinken Hosts Armenia-Azerbaijan Talks in New York

NEW YORK — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken again met with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in New York on Thursday for trilateral talks on a peace deal between the two South Caucasus nations.

“Secretary Blinken commended both ministers on the progress Armenia and Azerbaijan have made toward a durable and dignified peace and encouraged continued progress by both countries to finalize an agreement as soon as possible,” said Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman.

“The Secretary underscored that a peace agreement would bring increased stability and prosperity to the region,” Miller added in a short statement.

“The parties agreed to put additional efforts towards the conclusion of the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations in the shortest possible period,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said for its part.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a similar readout of the talks.

The official statements did not clarify whether Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov made more progress towards the peace treaty. Their latest meeting came more than a week after Blinken’s separate phone calls with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.